THE CYRILLIC VALVE NUMBERING SYSTEM AS TRANSLATED FROM GOST 5461-59

I thought that today we could continue to Eastern - cyrillic theme and look at a Russian valve numbering system.  Well, whilst researching this blog article I really could have done with my Dad here as his Ukrainian multilingual ability would have been most useful, honestly, how do you cope with a 33 letter alphabet?   But no,  I persevered and didn't even contact my pal Gary Skiba who could have helped as well.   Some of you may know Gary as the leading UK Leak guru - I'll certainly be bending his ear when my blog subjects turn to all things Leak, anyhow, I digress, for here is a 'little' primer on Cyrillic valve numbering systems.   Now none of you will have an excuse for not being able to read valveski (oops - Polish!!!!).

 

The Russian military Standard Operating Procedure for thermionic device numerication is documented in the 1959 issued GOST 5461-59.    The numbering system comprises of a four character system.  Thermionic devices MUST have a complete four character code,  however, where a  character is   not required  as a device descriptor then a dash should be included in it’s place.          On no account must the code ever be shortened from the prescribed four character code (or you will be sent to Siberia). 

 

The second (2o)  character defines the electrode structure for a device
Д	Diodes
X	Double diode
C	Triode
з	Tetrode
Л	Power pentode & beam tetrode
K	Remote cut-off pentode
ж	Sharp cut-off pentode
B	Secondary emission pentode
A	Twin grid mixer & hexode valve
ъ	Pentode with one or two diode
г	Triode with one or more diode
E	Tuning indicator
й	Triodes with hexode, heptode or octode
H	Double triode
P	Double tetrode or pentode
ф	Triode - pentode
л	Rectifier
Type sequence number	Gas-discharge rectifier
г	Gas thyratron
P	Mercury thyratron
X	Cold cathode thyratron
пM	Oscilloscope tubes with electrostatic deflection
пM	Oscilloscope tube with electromagnetic deflection
пK	Cathode ray tube
Type  number	Semiconductor

The fourth (4o) character defines the construction type and material for a device
-	Metal	Applicable to receiving & stabiliser valves
C	Glass
ж	HF glass, side leads
K	Ceramic
п	Miniature glass 19 & 22.5 mm
г	Subminiature > 10 mm
ъ	Subminiature 10mm
P	Subminiature 4 mm
A	Subminiature 6 mm
п	lock-in-key
д	Disc leads
A	Water cooled	Applicable to TX and modulator valves
ь	Air cooled
letter	Phosphor colour code	Applicable to CRT only
X	X = Average current (A) Y = Reverse voltage amplitude (kV)	Applicable to thyratron & rectifier valves

First of all, here’s a Cyrillic to European letter conversion table:-